Bailey

You said current form (in terms of results not performances) and that is current form.

Yeh would make sense. Thinking about it, the last position we need is a winger at the moment!

You must have missed the beautifully weighted pass that he played out to Naismith on the counter which was perfectly into his stride and would have allowed him to get a shot on goal if he had any pace... Or the ball for Lukaku's goal against Soton... His quality in the final third and specifically his ability to pick a pass is vastly underrated IMO. Gibson isnt half the player of Barry or McCarthy and it amazes me that you cant see that. Much worse passing range, narrower vision, less energy and far inferior defensive ability.

If that's his biggest mistake then we are on to a winner!

Im hoping he is bluffing!

Yeh hope it all goes well Rubes!

We (England) should be able to get through that group playing the U21's! Realistically though, it will be the perfect opportunity for us to get rid of the old players and bring in the younger players and develop them for the Euro's and then the WC. All of those games are very winnable and we can finally start developing a team for the future.

Everton 2 - 2 West Ham Lukaku

Form is all about performances. Like I said, when I have watched them in their last few games, they have been disjointed, worse than they were under AVB yet they are managing to win games through individual brilliance. That type of 'form' wont last forever and it will also cost them a lot of money to sustain. In all comps they have won 2, drawn 1 and lost 2. We have won 2 and lost 3 and the 3 we have lost have all been away from home against top 6 sides.

I thought that he did make quite a few decent runs myself, in behind and coming short. I do agree that he should have taken one of his chances though! De Guzman came on in place for Pablo and the latter was running the game through the middle. I didnt think De Guzman made much of an impact when he game on but when I have seen him before I have always thought of him as a tidy player as well. Didnt think an awful lot of Canas and I havent each time I have seen him.

I think Everton have called him back from his loan according to Twitter. Must be making an impression!

Is that the same Spurs that are rolling teams over for fun? From what I have seen of them they are very disorganised and the manager is just playing who he likes where hoping they figure it out themselves. They will win games through individual talent but they will struggle against teams with a bit of nous.

He was excellent on Thursday night. Really good control, quick & powerful runs and worked really hard too. I was also though De Guzman was very average especially in comparison to who he replaced initially. Maybe we were watching different games! lol

Could be wrong but I thought the Traore deal was in the pipe line before Jelavic left? Tbh I prefer Naismith to Jelly. Better movement, better touch and equally as clinical a finisher on best form. I think Naismith was already in Martinez's plans as being a striker and hence why bringing McGeady was done early. Exactly. Jelavic was never going to be worth as much for us as Hull paid in that window. Unless he came in and scored hatfuls (bearing in mind Lukaku was fit at that point) which was unlikely, he wouldnt have been worth anywhere near that much in the summer. We got a great price and it was a move that suited all parties.

Some people really are pathetic and they have way too much time on their hands.

Really good article. Nicely written too. I thought we might too, but like Martinez and the players have said he is trying to get the team to adapt slowly rather than throw everything at them at once. Its in those situations where teams drop like a stone. I think he has handled the transition brilliantly all told. It sure as hell hasnt been perfect and in some games we have reverted to type a little but our away performances at the Emirates, Old Trafford and Stamford Bridge so far have been about as good as I can remember for a very long time. That team against Chelsea only had one of our star attacking players in the first 11 and bar the first 5ish mins we bossed them for the rest of that half. We completely nullified their threat and we tore a couple of chunks out of one of the best defensive teams in the league with some really top class moves. If Osman had scored the 20 yarder he ran on to it would have eclipsed the Larissa strike by far because the amount of link up play and movement was really impressive against a compact defensive formation. If we had thrown in the towel, set up to defend and play for a point then I would also be on here with the 'same old Everton' crap but the players and manager arent accepting failure. We went to Stamford Bridge, to White Hart Lane and even to Anfield to win. Yes we havent picked up a point in those 3 games but we at least tried to bring all 3 home with us, like we did at The Emirates and Old Trafford. We are a work in progress and whilst this summer will be another difficult market (which I hadnt thought about until reading this thread) its not like its something we could have avoided.

Exactly and we didnt take a backward step either. We still have a problem in our attacking two players, especially now it looks like Traore is out (although I think Lukaku is fit again) as Naismith wasnt as good after he picked up that knock either. We have got some winnable games coming up and we need to get some wins in the bag to close the gap again.

You make me laugh Miguel...

And Jags gave away the free kick in the first place!

McCarthy for me, Distin, Baines and Barry a close second.

Absolutely gutting... Deserved a point. Silly challenge from Jags as it really wasnt necessary. Saying that our problems started when Osman went off and Barkley came on. Saddens me to say it from that point on we were playing with 10 men and we could keep hold of the ball for long enough to get our attacking players into the game. Simple as that.

Howard should be getting there first IMO.

Oh FFS!

Didnt need to do that Jags!

Absolutely nothing on Torres... prick.